


Elemental Journey

by Fallen_Ark_Angel



Series: Remember Me [56]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:13:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25174438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fallen_Ark_Angel/pseuds/Fallen_Ark_Angel
Summary: Everyone has to take their first steps eventually. Better late than never.
Relationships: Jellal Fernandes/Erza Scarlet, Laxus Dreyar/Mirajane Strauss
Series: Remember Me [56]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/209921
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

The end of spring and early summer felt like two separate, yet equal dreams where the youngest Dreyar drifted between training in the humid heat or serving icy drinks within the guild's walls. Nothing felt progressive. Not even her her magical growth. Everything felt stagnant and distant. Observed rather than lived.

Time was melting. As was she. She'd thought that, with everyone gone, she'd find herself being more productive, both at work and in her training, but this just didn't seem to be the case. Instead, without her sister's constant drama once more, she was forced to truly face what Kai's departure (as well as Ravan's to a lesser extent) meant for her. She'd never really made many friends and now, without her only one, things were...a bit lonely, honestly.

She still had Erza, of course, and her parents. Her aunts and uncles. She had Ajax to contend with and with Navi gone now, Lucy frequently sought her to babysit the twins. There were plenty of people around and much for her to do, to keep her busy, but sometimes…when it was quiet…

Before Haven left for Bosco with Locke, she'd asked her younger sister, quite plainly, what she wanted out of her life. Out of her training and out of the guild. Marin had dodged the question, insisting as she always had, that she was fulfilled and content with her current placement, but that never had been true, had it? She wasn't happy, when she was a little kid, being forced to absorb a massive amount of magic at the behest of her parents. She wasn't pleased, as she grew, to find that their near constant coddling of her was playing into her lack of development in multiple areas. She wasn't content with just hanging around the hall and she wasn't content now, as a barmaid, and there was more out there, she knew there was, but she just didn't understand how to get around life's blockades.

A lot of her time was still spent down by the river, near the same spot she always had, with Kai. He wasn't there to fish now, but she could still meditate and practice small moves in the water. It was relaxing, but at the same time, another blockade. A different kind. The river, even on its mightiest, post-heavy rains days, was nowhere near what she needed now, if she intended to improve her abilities. She'd outgrown it, the same as Kai had the fish there, but unlike her friend, she still found herself attempting to extract from it something that just wasn't there.

One day in particular, she found herself more frustrated than calmed by the bubbling brook and, instead of drying off, she laid back after climbing out, blinking in annoyance up at the warm sun. She'd been working, recently, on a new move. It was rather silly, but she thought that if she could absorb water droplets and residue after a shower or swimming, then she could power herself up in that way. It didn't seem impossible, anyways, and while the sun dried her off, she also focused some on trying to soak the water straight from her pale flesh.

Marin didn't understand how the others did it. Her father. Locke's. The Salamander or even Wendy. Even though they'd all met, found kinship among other slayers, there was something equally as lonely in the magic itself. It was a dead art, gifted to her purely from the lacrima that loomed beneath her surface. There was no one there to guide her, to teach her. Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy had learned, at least originally, from their dragons, but slayers like her own father had to carve their own path. Figure it out on their own.

And now it was her turn, but sometimes…

Sometimes…

Sometimes, like she was trapped in that very moment, she would just stare up at the endless sky above and, if it was clear, if she just distanced herself from reality even slightly, then she could imagine it. Gravity being reversed and she'd just fall, slowly, stupidly, into the sky, but it wouldn't be the sky, would it? The endless blue would have changed, somehow, and when she broached it, instead of vapor clouds, she'd be greeted with foaming waves and they'd just consume her, fully. It would be so nice there, in the ether, the lost world.

While she was staying with her off and on over the past few months, Haven told Marin about it once. What it had been like. After a particularly horrible nightmare, Haven had come into her younger sister's room across the apartment, knocking at the door, but hardly waiting for an answer before rushing in. And they sat in a way that was weird for them, together on the bed, where Haven told her about it for the first time. Not necessarily her experience, but rather what awaited them all on the other side. Or at least her.

Mirajane, their mother, insisted to Marin the next day that this wasn't true. When she brought it up to the woman, Mira only smiled at her, took note that Haven wasn't around the hall that day, before outright stating it was hardly what her oldest had imagined. Rather, it was trick. A play enacted purely for her benefit. That there was nothing to fear and not to focus too much on it.

But her mother didn't understand.

Marin's interested was hardly piqued from a place of fear. Quite the opposite.

When her sister was explaining to her, the eternity in which she was entrapped didn't frighten the teen, but rather seemed...inciting.

Not to imply that she was in any way wishing for death or like! No. It was...a different sort of longing.

Haven described it as floating, endlessly, mind numbly, but gosh, that was all Marin wanted. And she could picture it then, perfectly, falling into the sky and finding it so wet and aquatic. Swimming through it. And not thinking. Not having to.

She thought constantly. About everything. Worried over her sister and father. Her mother. Watched carefully the relationships of her family members ebb and flow. Shoulder all of Kai's burdens and look out for any that might befall Master Erza. Atop it all sat the guildhall, mostly, which she wasn't the sole keeper of, but it sure felt like it sometimes.

The idea of just...not worrying about any of it was alluring.

Her sister just turned it all off. Tuned it all out. When she left for Bosco weeks prior, it was with the intent of not thinking of Magnolia or the guild much at all. She was the same when she took off that first time, when she was seventeen, to struggle all alone. For so long, the idea of this was frightening to Marin, but recently…

She could get lost in herself and that wasn't any good, because thoughts were just thoughts, and if you dawdled int them too long, you delayed action. And the actions she needed to be taking at the moment were getting up, drying off, and rushing to the hall before the start of the dinner rush. It was her night to man the kitchen and she had to get there early to prep.

Not much had changed following the second round of S-Class trials. As Locke was the victor and almost immediately took off with Haven, there was no new S-Class member hanging around, vying for jobs. And, by proxy, all of the others he'd gone to the trials with were still around to sulk and train, once more, in hopes of qualifying in the following year.

It was kind of sad for Marin though, maybe, the man not being around. Even at his lowest, the past year, he'd always tipped her well and had a kind word for her when they saw one another. He told her that he loved her, before he left, and though the idea made her blush, she did feel something of a relationship with the man. He'd always been her sister's _something_ and it was weird when he wasn't around to pat her on the head and assure her it would all be okay.

But everything wasn't okay at the guild that day. Or at least it wasn't function as well as it should have been in her absence. The dinner rush came early and Kinana hadn't sent for her, instead trying to weather it alone. They were short staffed that week, as Lisanna was off on a job and Mirajane couldn't fill in, given that she and Laxus were on a vacation of sorts, a few towns over.

It had just been Kinana and Marin manning things, but the older woman sought to give the younger a break and, well, it was blowing up in their faces a bit, apparently.

"Where have you been? I was waiting for you."

She did make a face though at her cousin Ajax when she found him hanging about, apparently waiting for her. Though he was verging on becoming a man, the teen was still flailing a bit. He was old enough to take jobs on his own, which he did, very frequently, and make his own money, to use accordingly, but he somehow always ended up broke far too quickly. With both his parents out on separate jobs and all his aunts and uncles too busy for him, he saw it fit to whine to his cousin over his lack of food.

"I haven't eaten all day," he insisted to Marin as, the second she got into the guildhall, he descended on her. But she was only quickly passing him, headed back to the kitchen and Kinana called something out to her. Over this though, Ajax said, "Well, I mean, I ate a sandwich...and some rice...and some fruit, but-"

"Jack, I'm busy," she griped, but she never got the tone right. It sounded far more pleading than commanding. Due to this, he only followed right behind her, into the kitchen area, where Marin was quickly shrugging on an apron. AT the sight of him still standing there, she only groaned before saying, "Fine, I'll make you something."

"Alright! I want-"

"If," she insisted and he only narrowed his eyes, "you get out there and help Kinana. Bus tables or something. Just ask her what she needs."

"But I'm hung-"

"'jax-"

"Fine," he groaned, turning on his hill. "I'll help."

"You'll work," she corrected to his back, but it was softly as even years out, she was still finding her true voice.

The night was only just beginning and she did allow Ajax a break, about an hour later, handing him a dinner plate and making him promise not to run off after he'd been fed. And though he was known to hoodwink a person or two, his cousin was hardly someone he'd attempt one on. He shoveled his meal down before getting right back to working. Marin re quested he take out some garbage and, well, it beat having to wash dishes.

He hated that.

It had been a few hours since the sun fell outta the sky, meaning it had cooled off a bit finally. Still, while it was no longer sticky out, it was certainly the remnants of a scorcher and Ajax found it a bit odd, maybe, when as he headed to the back of the sprawling property that he felt a strange, cold breeze blow over him. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and, though he glanced about, he saw nothing out of the norm. While people liked to hang around the property, most rarely ventured into the back and, as he walked all the way to the back gate, the shining moon above was his only company other than the distant voices and sounds wafting from the guildhall. He was alone. He was sure of it.

And yet…

If there was anything that Ajax knew, it was the feeling of being watched. Of another presence. His father had kept five little lost souls as playmates since he was a boy and, now, they frequently followed his son around. Though Ajax cared for them very deeply and had already had a 'talk' with his father before, on what to do with them, should and when the man himself passed on, it didn't mean that they couldn't get on his nerves at times. They made privacy difficult and, as a growing teen, he only grew to crave it more and more.

So he was used to them sneaking about, not necessarily to spy on him, but more to surprise him, at inopportune times. This felt much like that. In fact, he almost expected, each time he glanced over his shoulder, to find his father had arrived from his job and it was one of the souls, encased in their little wooden bodies, hoping to get his attention.

But no one seemed to be about.

Shaking the feeling off, when he got to the dumpster, Ajax took to holding his breath and tossing the bags he'd carried out into the container. He didn't know how Marin did it everyday. Any of it. He'd much rather be on the road than hang around the guildhall and have to deal with this stuff.

It was as he tossed the final bag in and grinned victoriously over the completion of the most menial of tasks that it happened.

That feel again. The cold wind. And then, an immense magical presence overwhelmed him, causing the teen to tense up and his fists to alight with a soft green glow.

"Come out!" he yelled, whirling around in a defensive stance. "And I mean it! Don't make me find you. Because when I do-"

"Alright, alright. Here, I'll come out, see?"

And Ajax had to blink some, as a black fog seemed to appear right before his eyes, dissipating only when, from it, there appeared a creature. As the fog faded, the intense magical presence did as well and the teen only frowned, glancing over what now stood before him.

Err, well, stand wasn't the exact word.

"You're an Exceed," he remarked quite dumbly as, dropping his hands, he stared at the winged animal with a bit of a grin. "Right?"

It was a silver, slim cat that didn't look unlike Happy or Pantherlily, the ones that Ajax had spent the majority of his life around. The former especially. But it looked younger than them, almost more akin to a kitten than anything else.

Raising up a hand to scratch at his hair when the kitten didn't answer, Ajax asked instead, "Were you lookin' for someone? Another Exceed? Like Lily or Happy? Or Carla? Because-"

"I am." Glancing passed Ajax then, he questioned, "Is this...Fairy Tail?"

"Yep!" Ajax never could quite help it, the grin that always spread across his lips at the very mention of the place. It was something of a point of pride for him, just the existence of the guild. It meant everything to him. "C'mon! I'll take you ins- Hey, are you okay?"

It happened in an instance. One second, the Exceed was hovering there before him and the next, he just fell straight down to the hard ground, even letting out a bit of a cry of pain at this. His wings were gone and Ajax only frowned down at him.

"My magic..." the Exceed whispered as it shoved up, "It isn't very-"

"Here." And gently, the teen moved to scoop up the cat. Though it resisted at first, flicking it's tail and verbally protesting, he only insisted, "Let's get you inside. You said you were looking for someone in the guild?"

Hesitantly relaxing into the teen's grasps, the Exceed admitted, "A family. Or at least someone bearing the name."

"Oh, yeah? Which one?"

Again, there was a pause before the creature whispered, "Dreyar."

And Ajax almost dropped the cat. Recovering, he took off in a true sprint now. At the Exceed's balk, he only snickered in a way that sounded much like his father as he insisted, "If you want the Dreyars, then you've come to the right place."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a few chapters that will lead into a separate story. This runs alongside Operation (timewise, this falls around A Call to Arms), but doesn't really touch on it. You don't really have to follow this stay caught up with Operation and you don't have to follow Operation to pay attention to this part of stuff. They'll intersect eventually, obviously, but for now, it's all just parallel to one another.


	2. Chapter 2

The guildhall was just as bustling as Ajax made his way back into it, a bright grin on his face while the Exceed, in turn, only looked on in wonder. It was something to take in, the first time you saw it, the Fairy Tail guildhall was. A large bar, filled to the brim with the greatest mages in the land, all mingling and interacting, some even drunkenly showing off their different forms of magic, and it must have been majestic.

The first time.

But Ajax didn't have that. The first time. Taking in the sights and smells of the place. Or, rather he did, but they were when he was still an infant and not equipped to be in awe of much of anything. The Fairy Tail guild meant a lot to him, but it never quite got such an awestruck emotion to be drawn from him, but rather a comfort and reassurance.

Still, he was reverent of it in others frequently and only grinned when the Exceed pressed closer to him, clearly apprehensive over his new environment. Walking through the late night crowd, he headed right over to the bar where, with little ceremony, he moved to trust the Exceed out to his very busy cousin.

"Marin," he said, having to do so in order to get her attention. At the moment, the teen was bent over, pouring a round of shots, and hardly glanced up at him. "Check this out! I found an Exceed in the back and I think he's looking for Uncle Laxus."

Frowning, the young woman glanced up in a bit of surprise when she found herself blinking into the equally as blue eyes of the creature.

"Uh, hello," she offered softly. "If you're looking for my father, Laxus Dreyar, you've actually just missed him. He's gone out of town for-"

"It doesn't have to be him." Ajax had sat the creature down on the bar top and, folding his arms over his chest, the silver Exceed insisted, "I just need to see _a_ Dreyar."

"Oh."She nodded. "Well, I'm a Dreyar and am happy to help you with any-"

"It's not something that just any Dreyar can help me with," the Exceed insisted to her. "It's a very important-"

"Oh, Happy!" Ajax had spotted him then, lazily flying above where the Dragneel twins were busy eating their dinner. Waving the cat over, he insisted, "C'mere!"

It didn't take a lot to get both the Exceed and the two boys over there. At Ajax's beckoning, they were all three quick to make their way, Iggy with a bright grin spreading over his face while Lucky scratched curiously at his blond hair and Happy ruffled his tail in surprise.

"Another Exceed?" Fluttering over faster then, he was fast to land on the bar top beside him. "Hi! I'm-"

"I don't," the tinier one insisted, "have time for this. I'm on a very important mission and-"

"Are you from the Exceeds that came from Edolas?" Iggy questioned curiously. "Have you come for a visit?"

"No," the young creature remarked with a frown his way this time. "I don't even know-"

"Are you all alone?" Lucky questioned.

"Well, yes, but-"

"You get lost?" Happy shook his head some. "It's alright. It's been awhile since I've been to see everyone. I can take you back home. It's not far."

"Yeah, let's go!" Both twins exclaimed this and Ajax was quick to nod his head as well, but the tiny Exceed was not please.

"I am not," he insisted, "from whatever that is. And I don't have time for this. I need to speak with a Dreyar-"

"I am," Marin reminded softly as the younger teens only seemed enthused at the idea of an adventure, "a Dreyar."

"What's going on?" Finally, it seemed that his sons excitement had attracted the attention of Natsu. The man, at the moment, had had more than a few beers in his wife's absence (she was out on a solo job) which for the slayer only seemed to put him in an even more rambunctious mood. "What are you guys so excited about?"

"I," Happy spoke as, sprouting his wings, he immediately took to the air to flutter closer to the man, "have found a young Exceed that I'm going to have to graciously return home-"

"You did not," Ajax griped with a frown. "I found him. If anyone is going to take him to his home-"

"I do not," the little Exceed insisted then, "need someone to take me back anywhere! I'm here for-"

"Ah, Hap, you can't take him," Natsu interrupted with a shake of his head. "When Lucy gets back, we're doing that thing."

"What thing?" Happy griped.

"Mom's birthday," Iggy offered to which, after a sip of the drink in his hand, the man nodded along with his son.

"Luce's birthday," he agreed. "So sorry to your friend here, Hap, but-"

"We're not," the younger Exceed insisted, "friends. And I'm not going to-"

"I'll take him home!" Ajax patted at his chest. "All by myself."

"You know the way?" Happy questioned.

"Well...maps do exist."

"You suck," Lucky snickered, "at reading maps."

"Yeah? Well, you suck at everything else," Ajax retorted and it had been a long day, for both of them, so it was easy enough for them to begin shoving at and eventually brawling with one another. As they tumbled away though and Natsu cheered them on, Iggy only came to gently pat the by now fuming little Exceed on the head.

"What," he questioned, "do you need a Dreyar for?"

He took in a breath then, the tiny creature did, first looking down at his little paws before a magic circle appeared, into which a bedazzled amulet fell. Struck along a thick, golden chain it had carved archaic markings on it of some kind along with a large green gemstone in the center. Rather weighty, the slight animal held it up for them all to see then.

"This," he insisted simply, "along with a Dreyar will fulfill my prophecy."

As Iggy and Marin stared down at the amulet in wonder though, someone new took to joining them. Someone that made most everyone's blood run cold and straighten up, almost immediately. Even the tussling Ajax and Lucky found themselves shoving away from one another to stand to attention.

The heavy gaze of Master Erza fell over them all and, while most people quickly busied themselves with something or other, Natsu only grinned at one of his oldest friends.

"Ay, Erza," he greeted with a bit of a slur. "You see this cat that Happy found? He's young and lost. Someone's gonna have to take him home."

"Is that so?" She was headed over regardless, but now did so with a bit of an interested look. Standing before the bar, she took in both the tiny Exceed and the jewelry he was clutching in his paws. Though he shook his head at the Salamander's deduction of the situation, she still softened her gaze as she remarked, "We have a great relationship with the Exceeds. Of course we will find someone who-"

"I could do it."

Erza frowned some, as she glanced to Marin finally. She was still only standing there, behind the bar, but her blue eye were uncharacteristically able to meet her master's with little trouble.

"It's not very far," Marin continued on. "It wouldn't take me any time at all."

"I'm not," the tiny Exceed, once more, insisted, "going there. I don't know who you're talking about. I'm not from here! I only came here because I needed a Dreyar and-"

"Well, then you have one." Erza even nodded, a slight smile finding its way to her lips. Not quite sure what the tiny creature was speaking on, she still found herself quite pleased with the ease at which her most recent pupil was able to express her desire to accompany him. It was, after all, quite the progress. "I'm not certain what it is that you are so concerned about, but I am sure that Marin will take care of it then."

"I'll come too!" Ajax rushed back over. "Marin. You can't go alone. So-"

"No." Erza did not like that idea. At all. The boy wasn't exactly one of her favorite members. "Marin will take him alone."

"You should stay and help Kinana out tomorrow with the guild," Marin suggested and he looked stricken at the idea, but when the Master nodded along with this decision, he knew he was finished.

"The final nightly train has surely departed by now," Erza remarked. "Assuming wherever it is that you need to be, which apparently isn't with the other Exceeds, requires such travel-"

"It does," the Exceed assured her before holding up the jewelry in his paws, showing it off to the woman. Under her gaze, he remarked, "I was chosen to take this all the way to Mount Surk and, with the help of the prophesied, I will assist in closing back a summoned monster from deep in the mountain's caves. Then I'll return back to my people worthy and respected and-"

"You're," Lucky questioned to his brother and Ajax's snickers, "going to do that?"

"I," the tiny Exceed insisted, "am."

"If you and your parents don't come from Edolas, where do you come from?" Happy fluttered back to the bar, landing with a discerning look on his usually jolly features. "I didn't think that there were any other Exceeds."

"You didn't think there were any at all," Natsu pointed out, "before we went there and met them."

"I come from the forest. So do my people." The little Exceed looked down at his own amulet then, frowning some at it as he thought. "They hatched from eggs many decades ago and have been waiting for their destined moment. And now, it's come."

"Eggs in forests?" Happy scratched at his head before grinning. "I bet they were part of the ones that were sent from Edolas! And they just didn't get picked up by a slayer. Wow! Imagine if that had happened to me. I could have grown up with forest Exceeds and been in touch with my inner self. Gone on a mission."

"You go," Natsu griped, "on plenty of missions."

"To find myself? Discover who I am?" The blue cat snickered, elated at the thought. "I could have really been something."

"You're something now, Happy," Iggy assured him. "I bet you're even better known than some of the guys here."

"You can't go alone, Marin," Ajax interceded once more. "If you don't want me to go, fine, but someone-"

"Marin," Erza insisted then, with her commanding tone, "is going to accompany this young Exceed and defeat whatever monster they encounter all on her own. She is not only a dragon slayer, but also the daughter of one of the most powerful. Perhaps it is time that she proves herself to be worthy of such acclaim."

Natsu, after downing the rest of his current round, came to slam his current round down on the bar, causing the already beginning to regret her words Marin to jump.

"Marin," the Salamander assured both the boys, his master, and the Exceeds, "can take this one. I'll let her. Just the once. I'll be busy with, uh, what is it, Hap, that we gotta do this week?"

"Lucy birthday," he reminded softly.

"I got Lucy's birthday to worry about this week," Natsu agreed. "So I won't have time for our usual fight. You can get it in with this dumb monster or whatever instead, huh?"

"Yeah, Marin, I believe in you." Happy jumped into the air then, his wings catching him as he fluttered up to the clearly nervous woman's face. She caught him, when he fell into her arms, the blue cat smiling up at her. "Sucks you'll miss out on cake though. I'd say I'd save you a piece, but Lucy will probably devour it."

"Yes," Erza remarked dryly. "I'm sure it will be Lucy who does that."

"I-I didn't know about the monster." Marin, by that point, had found her voice once more. Cuddling Happy, she looked to the other Exceed who, by that point, was just gazing down at his amulet. Softly, she said, "I thought you just wanted a Dreyar to take you somewhere. I don't… Erza-"

"You will accompany him to the mountain, Marin," the woman told her in a far gentler voice than she'd ever used with her former student, but stern enough to get her point across. With a nod of her head down at the silver Exceed, she insisted, "It is time."

That night, Marin found herself taking the new Exceed home with her. Though he was antsy to continue on right that minute, Erza had been right; they'd have to wait for a train out of town at dawn. The woman herself had stuck around until closing, making idle chatter with Kinana and watching her teen protege close up, as well as speaking some to the Exceed.

He was a serious little fellow, Azure was. He didn't make much conversation, if any at all, instead continually insisting to Erza that it was the utmost importance that neither she nor anyone else attempt to dissuade him from.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Erza assured him and while she'd taken the whole thing rather seriously, Happy told Marin before departing with Natsu and the boys that night (even Ajax, who would no doubt stay the night).

"It's like I said," he comforted her softly when, after carrying him off away from the discussion at the bar, she gently set him down on a table top with a worried expression crossing her face. "His family, back in the forest? They're all leftovers who just didn't find their slayers at the right moment, when they were dropped from their eggs. Instead, they must've made their own tribe and lived together in the forest and probably made up their own lore, about where they came from. Every tribe has to have a purpose, huh? And they decided this is theirs. I dunno how they got your family name out of it, but your dad and mom are super popular, so… It'll be okay. You'll take him to a mountain where there will be nothing wrong, because of course there won't be, and then you'll come back home."

Happy was staring up at her with round eyes, tail flicking some as he looked on in obvious concern over how much she heeded his reassurance. While Navi and Marin had never been particularly close, she was one of the kids that he'd watched grow up and, in some way or another, assisted into adulthood. He liked her well-enough and, like most the others in the hall, had learned to look out for the former master's youngest daughter.

She was their barmaid, after all.

When she smiled at nodded at him, Happy found a grin growing over his own face and she did believe him. To a certain extent. It made sense anyways. She knew from all the stories that the other slayers, the real ones, had gotten their Exceeds because of dealings with Edolas and it would make enough sense, anyways, that they, as a mostly unknown species, would feel a certain calling and importance.

It didn't stretch the imagination too far to think that somehow dragon slayer had gotten turned into Dreyar. Fairy Tail members were, after all, rather well known across the land. Her father among the most.

Most importantly though, while she did feel as if the amulet felt rather significant, it hardly proved anything at all. Just that some young Exceed had been given an object of weighted value and been given a task that seemed far beyond his means.

Marin didn't realize just how much she connected with that until she was leaving the bar that night.

"Would you like me to carry you?" she questioned the tiny Exceed as, though his wings appeared, she knew that they wouldn't glide him very far. "Azure?"

He seemed annoyed by the suggestion, but without many options, he did find himself coming to fall into the woman's arms. She insisted to him though, as they walked along in otherwise silence, that it was merely so he could save his magic and strength for the coming days.

"When," he reminded, "we defeat the beast."

Yes.

The beast.

Marin, who had yet to be sold on its existence, only sighed some.

There had been a comfort, when Happy fell into her arms before, and she'd be lying to say it wasn't somewhat present currently as she carried Azure along. It had always been a bit of jealousy for her when she was little, the way that Navi and Locke, through virtue of their slayer fathers, were given their own cute cats to play with while her own had nothing to offer in return.

Well, that wasn't wholly true.

Laxus had spent his tumultuous years with the Thunder Legion and they supplemented as distant relatives, and she loved them all, very much, but it was just different.

She'd always wanted a pet.

And she knew that they weren't that, now, as an adult. Of course not. Happy, Carla, and Lily were their own beings with true sentience, but to a little girl, they were cute talking cats who were there to hug and love on you when your parents are too busy.

All three cats had been a staple on her childhood in some way, but to have an Exceed in her family…

It was just nice, maybe, even as an adult, to not be walking home alone late at night, but rather with another creature, no matter how meek and non-threatening, there to observe the dreary late night side of Magnolia.

"This is my place," she sighed as she let herself and the Exceed in that night. It felt darker now, the apartment did, and far too big for how little she was.

Empty.

She'd kept it after Kai ran off to the coast because Haven liked to crawl into the extra bed at night and Locke seemed to tip extra, to accommodate this practice, but now it was just an extra room in an apartment she already felt distant too without her best friend.

"Is something wrong?" she questioned when, as the cat jumped from her arms, he only took to the air, hovering as she flicked on the lights.

"No," he assured her as he continued to glance around, as if it in a bit of awe. "It's just… We live in the forest, where we train and hunt and… I've never stayed the night in a house before."

Marin found it easy, for some reason, to smile at the creature. Not out of the nerves she usually possessed, but more so in a relief that was still only becoming known to her. Growing up one of the weakest in a guildhall of some of the strongest among men, it was rare that she ever was in complete control of another. Short of taking care of her cousin or the twins when they were younger, the best she could hope for was that Kai was in a listening mood. Otherwise, she was out of luck. With Azure though, being such a young Exceed, she felt that this power balance was shifted nearly entirely in her favor.

Grinning at the clearly flustered cat, she only insisted, "Oh, well, take a moment to look around. I know you had a fish back at the guild, but I have some sweets that maybe you'd like?"

It did feel a bit awkward, for them both, but eventually the pair found themselves seated on the couch, Azure struggling not to yawn as he cautiously huddled into the blanket she'd gotten for him and Marin mostly stared down into the plate in her lap, where a pastry sat, untouched by them both.

"Did you come a long way?" she asked the Exceed, blushing slightly as she addressed him inquisitively. "I… I do know a lot, I think, working in a guild,a bout the surrounding areas and I don't know of any other Exceed camp or-"

"It's my magic." Staring up at her from beneath the blanket, he said, "I'm able to transverse a lot of ground."

"Like...teleporting?"

"Maybe," he agreed, not too certain himself.

"My father has a spell," she said, "where he uses lightning to get around. My sisters learned it too. They both…" And she felt herself lose it then, by letting in those more powerful, even if it was only in her own mind. "They were probably who you wanted. Who you really wanted."

"What do you mean? I thought you said that you were a Dreyar?"

"I am," she insisted, "a Dreyar."

"Then-"

"My father is one of the most accomplished mages in the world." Then she frowned. "Well, he's older now and had a few… But he still could take on most anything. Especially whatever it is that you're going to go up against. And then my sister..."

"Yeah?"

"My sister was- Is." She frowned. "My sister is...one of the strongest people I know. Mentally. And she's packaged with her boyfriend, I guess, and he can heal anything. They wouldn't be afraid. Like I-"

"I'm not afraid!" And he popped out of the blanket then. "So don't say that! I-"

"I-I'm sorry!" Shifting away, she nearly dropped the pastry. "I didn't mean you. I meant me! I'm… I'm… Master thinks that I can do this, but Master thinks that I can do a lot of things, and yes, I was feeling low this afternoon and I think I'm just missing my sister or Kai or… But now I've gotten myself into this and it's all just now catching up to me and- Oh, Kai! I forgot."

She jumped up then, as the Exceed only sat there with a frown, watching as she rushed from the room. It was quick however, her rush into her bedroom before she returned it was with a communication lacrima. Setting it up on the coffee table, she was silent as she configured it for a moment and Azure studied the object curiously, but silently.

"Marin?" finally came a rough yawn of the woman's name as an image began to form in the crystal orb. While Azure jumped, Marin only sat back down, nodding into the image.

"Kai, I'm so sorry," she insisted to the lacrima as her longest and closest friend came into clear view. "I know it's late and you have to be on the boat in the morning, but I missed talking to you this evening before close and then I'm kind of going out of town in the morning, so-"

"Slow down. What do you mean? Going out of town where? That you won't be able to talk to me?" He was rubbing at his eyes, knocking both sleep and hair from them. Marin could hear Lance, his boyfriend, complaining somewhere else in the tiny house the pair shared and she grimaced somewhat, knowing she was being a bother, but at the same time knowing she didn't have much of an option. If she disappeared, possibly for days, without letting him know, then Kai would flip out. "Is something going on?"

"No. W-Well-"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. Right now, I mean."

"Marin, you're not making any sense."

Taking in a deep breath, she said, "While I was working today, Ajax came in with an Exceed who isn't from where the other Exceeds are and he needs a Dreyar to help him complete a mission, but Haven's in Bosco and my father is on vacation with my mother, so I decided it's up to me. W-Well, Erza helped come to that decision too. And Natsu. But-"

"What? Marin-"

"Kai, I'll be okay. Calm down."

"Erza can't do this!" And it was hardly the first times Kai had made such a statement in regards to something, unfortunately, yes, the swordswoman can. "I'm gonna call her. Right now. I mean...after she's woken up because you know how she is if you bother her while she's sleeping, but… What is it that you're even going to do?"

"We're going to defeat a monster."

That reply didn't come from Marin. Rather, Azure had finally found some composure and was now peeking over to stare into the lacrima himself, observing with a bit of caution.

"Oh, damn, there is another cat!" Kai couldn't help himself and, by now, Lance was yelling at him to either go back to bed or shut up. Still, he only snickered, Kai did, as he insisted, "Gosh, I wish I was there. This is so cool, Marin. I- Did he say a monster?"

It took some time. More than Marin wanted and enough that Kai did, in the end, get kicked out on the porch to finish their conversation. And though he didn't feel any better about what was going to take place, the man only reminded Marin with the boyish grin the one thing he always had.

"You can do anything, Marin," he told her with a nod of his head and a belief that she was still discovering inside of herself. "And if Erza says so, then I guess you gotta do it. But...if you wanna run away and join me on the coast-"

"Go to bed, Kai," she told him through a yawn and a grin of his own, calmed in the decision and the coming morning just by the sound of his voice. "I'll talk to you when I get back."

"The second you do," he insisted before adding with an impish tone, "I might even gotta take off, maybe, from my job, until then, I'll be so worried sick and all."

"Kai-"

"Stay safe, Marin." Then glancing really close into the lacrima on his end, he insisted, "And you too, Azure."

When he disappeared from the lacrima, the Exceed leaned forward, still from the couch, to brush his paw against the crystal. It was cool to the touch and Marin giggled a bit, at first, partially still flushed from speaking with her best friend and also enjoying the awe reflected in the now vacant lacrima from the Azure's eye. This changed quickly however when, leaning too far, the slight cat began to fall forwards and Marin was quick to grab him, pulling him into her lap with a slight blush.

Falling back into her, Azure only stared up at the woman, watching as she took a moment to say, "I think we should go to bed now. If we're going to catch the early train, I mean."

Azure was quick to climb back out of her lap, shaking his head a bit bashfully as he agreed, "Yeah We should."

"There's another room," she told him. "A extra room. The sheets are clean and-"

"I'm fine here." He dove back under the blanket. "It'll be morning soon and I want to take off as soon as possible."

"Yeah." She swallowed some with a nod. "Okay."

But Marin didn't sleep. She couldn't. It wasn't like she got many of the hours anyways for rest and, before the sun even began to peak over the horizon, she was quietly peeking into the living room to check on the Exceed.

He was tangled up in the blanket and, from the fact it was somewhat unraveling, Marin had a feeling he'd found a loos thread and gone a bit crazy with it. The pastry was gone though, from where she'd left it on the plate, and the Exceed seemed to be sleeping rather deeply after his exhausting journey. She snagged a quick shower, to let him sleep a bit longer, and packed a light bag, not quite sure what she should even bring, before going to rouse him.

"Azure," she whispered softly as she gently shook the silver Exceed. As he blinked up at her, her lapis eyes catching his similar, she even smiled a bit, maybe, hiding her nervous and knotted stomach. "It's time."

He yawned some, though he tried to hide it, and he insisted on flying to the train station rather than being carried. Which was fine for Marin who, when she got to the train station, had her own internal battles to face.

For one, she was going out on a mission, while requested by her master, she knew for certain that her parents would complete veto it. Even if her father refused to help the poor Exceed, there was no way that he'd let her go anywhere.

Which was crazy.

Because she was a grown woman.

She lived on her own, paid her own way, and was very mature for her age, which was legally considered an adult now, and she could do whatever she wanted. Now.

Maybe always.

But certainly now.

And now? Now she wanted to get on the train to go help out the Exceed she was hoping would turn into a friend of some sort.

Which brought her to her next point.

For two, she was absolutely too far into her dragon slayer training to be anything other than absolutely nauseous and nearly passing out on the train and it freaked Azure out and she tried to white knuckle it. She tried very hard. Natsu told her, before, that you just had to let yourself completely go, pass out, vomit, anything your body wanted, give in to it, and you'd survive. Her father told her to just grit her teeth, really hard, grip onto whatever she could, and just breath as steadily as she could manage then, hopefully, one day she'd only vomit once or twice after a long train ride.

Neither had ever worked for her.

Because it wasn't voluntary. The things she felt as her stomach attempted to climb out her throat and her eyes spun around in her head and she did the best she could.

All she'd ever done was the best she could.

But that day, it only managed to last her about four hours by train away from Magnolia and only halfway to their destination.

Azure fluttered along behind her in the busy train station as Marin rushed for the nearest trashcan she could find and it was so embarrassing.

She was so completely and utterly embarrassed.

In multiple ways.

She was embarrassed as a person, to be so ill from something as silly as a train ride. She was an embarrassment to the emblem that adorned her arm, but that hardly felt anything new. And, as Azure hovered above with serious doubts about how certain it was that he needed a Dreyar (especially if this was the one), Marin found she was embarrassed for an entirely other reason.

It was a feeling, near her, of a person lingering and maybe even her sensing Azure's apprehension. But as she lifted her head, blinking back the water in her eyes and regretting, honestly, ever taking a lacrima in the first place, she did finally find enough center to focus on the person standing before her then.

Sucking in a breath, she questioned, "Ravan?"

The man stood there, silently for a moment, bandanna rapped over his mouth and eyes as void as ever. Though he looked on her for a moment, his gaze quickly shifted to the tiny silver Exceed that hovered over her shoulder.

"Replace Kai finally?" he asked and she blushed, reaching in her pocket for a tissue, something to wipe her face, but Ravan seemed to note this as, from his own pocket, he produced a different bandanna.

Of course.

"Here." Holding it out, he gave something of a shrug, as he said, "All I got."

But instead of taking it, she only felt her stomach begin to sour again as she asked, "Did Erza send you?"

Insistent, he waved the garment a bit, until finally her feeble hands reached for it, all while questioning, "Should she have?"

"No." From one palm, Marin moistened her skin with her magic before rubbing it over her face and then using his bandanna to dry the wetness. Around it, she said, "But if she did-"

"I don't take orders from her anymore. Or anyone in your guild."

"Then why are you here?"

Ravan took in a breath, watching her compose herself before replying, "Special mission. You?"

And she met his eyes, finally, for once, before saying, "Same."

With a nod, Ravan glanced at the bandanna in her hand, which made her lose some of her confidence and blush again. Tugging down his own current bandanna, he insisted, "Keep it."

"Uh, Marin?" Azure had observed long enough. "Who is this?"

She shoved the bandanna down into her pocket before glancing up at him. "I'm sorry. This is Ravan's. He's...Kai's brother."

"Yeah." He snorted, Ravan did with a frown. "Kai's brother."

Meeting her childhood best friend's brother standing before a trashcan full of her former stomach contents while her perceived partner on her first mission hung above, losing faith in her by the second. And that was to assume he had any to begin with.

"What are you doing, Marin?"

Ravan asked this after nearly a minute passed of them all just glancing back and forth at one another. He sounded slightly exasperated and, honestly, he was. The last thing he expected when he arrived at the station that day was to see Haven's younger sister beelining to a trashcan. It was out of surprise, honestly, that he approached her, but now as he stood there, gazing at the scene before him, he knew he had to do something.

"W-Well," she began as her queasy stomach made the confidence hard to grasp, "Azure came to the guild looking for a Dreyar to take him somewhere, for a mission, and my father's gone on vacation and Haven..."

"And Haven," he agreed, looking off. "And Erza told you to do this?"

"I wanted to," she told him. "But Erza did insist that I-"

"She always," Ravan remarked with a frown, "does."

"We're just going to Mount Surk," she told him. "That's all."

"That's not all." Azure was rather tired of being annoyed and did not, at all, like Ravan's vibe. "We're going to fight a monster."

It was at that exact moment though that Azure's aero magic gave out and he came tumbling down, with Marin's head _thankfully_ breaking his fall.

"You're," the man questioned with a frown as Marin, after wincing, moved to snatch the cat off her head and pull him instead into her arms, "going to fight a monster?"

"Yeah." Azure glared at him from the safety of Marin's hold while she looked rather uncertain. "We are."

"At Mount Surk? That's where you said you're going, right?"

"Yeah." It was Marin's turn to agree. "We are."

He took a moment, Ravan did, shaking his head, tugging back up his bandanna, and nodding off.

"C'mon." He turned to walk off then, but not to the train, as he was intended. "We got a lot of ground to make up. No way you can take getting back on that train."

"Ground?" Azure still glared after the man. "What do you mean?"

"Yeah, Ravan," Marin agreed, hurrying to catch up with him. "What are you-"

"I got a stop along the way," he told her simply. "To Mount Surk. I was gonna take the train out, but walking's better for me anyways."

"Ravan, I don't-"

"You're my best friend's little baby sister, Marin. And Erza's perfect little student." He wasn't quite sure of there was resentment on his tone, on the former or the latter, but while Marin considered both and trailed behind him, Ravan's mind was already racing at the thought of something else. "What would I look like? Leave you to face that all alone?"


	3. Chapter 3

When she calculated the years she'd known Ravan, Marin was a bit surprised to find that, at some point, they'd tipped over into being in one another's life longer than they hadn't. It felt like such a distinct time period for her, the early days of Erza taking on the responsibility of raising Ravan and Kai, that Marin was even more surprised to find that the time period preceding it now was becoming difficult to recall. It had always felt like two portions of her life, the time before Kai and the time after, but that wasn't the case anymore.

Or, she considered with a bit of a frown, perhaps it was, but rather in the reverse.

Still, the point was that she'd known Ravan for quite a long time and knew the man wasn't one to strike up much conversation so she knew better than to expect much on their journey. She walked slightly behind him, Azure glaring at the man's back from her arms, and kept to herself as well. She was very good at that. Even in the bar setting, she was rarely the person to initiate a conversation. Her mother said this was a good thing, to let people come to you, but honestly, it had nothing to do with being a good barmaid and far more to do with her own insecurities.

Not that between the two of them, her and Ravan, she had much to fear. Even in his most volatile years, he'd never been outright unkind to her. And it hadn't been that long ago that they'd seen one another. Only a few months. He'd been at Kai's house when she went down with Haven, around the time of the S-Class trials, and he'd seemed well enough. Like himself.

But it was during that time period that Kai had shared with her some details about...about...Ravan and Haven and…

She felt her face heat up, Marin did, every single time she thought about all that, but especially then, as she carried Azure along behind the man in question. Her sister's life had always been rather distant from the one that Marin led and, while that was still rather true, she felt as if there had been some sort of weird line crossing that occurred that now affected her as well.

Kai was her best friend. And Ravan was his older brother. Haven was her sister. And though they'd never been close, she'd kind of hoped, well…if Haven came back successful from Bosco…

She wanted to be close to her. Her sister. For the first time. Especially if now that she seemed fully into her relationship with Locke, the woman continued on as a Fairy Tail member.

But Ravan was important to Marin too. With this information about her sister and the man just out there, she couldn't imagine that Locke would ever like him very much, which was considering the fact he seemed to flat out hate him to begin with.

It felt silly to be so worried about such a thing, but as she found herself completely alone, left the guildhall and uncertain of anyone's return, Marin did find that she regressed a bit. Maybe. Or at least became nostalgic. It felt silly to be so young and long for times of the past, but this strange impasse she currently found herself trapped in left her with little to do other than consider and contemplate.

She found that she thought about Ravan a lot. Not as much as her sister, of course, or even as much as she worried over Kai, but she did wonder about him at times. Unlike her sister, who wrote home, or Kai, who seemed to need to call her nearly every night, Marin didn't hear from Ravan. The sole reason she'd seen him since his departure all had to do with Haven.

They were hardly true friends, Ravan and Marin weren't. She was well aware of this fact and always had been. But they were connected in a rather tangible way from many points and she did wonder about him at times. Worry about him. He was present in much of her life and to see him now, all she wanted to know was how he'd been and what he'd been doing, but the man offered up little and it was just as well.

She wasn't quite sure she could work out how to speak to him, knowing all she knew now, and it was work enough, dealing with Azure's constant complaints.

He didn't want to be held.

But he also was aware that it was a necessity.

So the Exceed saw fit to complain, instead, about other things. Marin's grip was too tight, who was this strange guy to boss them around anyways, and were they there yet? He would be there already, if it was just him journeying alone.

Marin was very keen on arriving at their destination as soon as possible, not truly to battle the monster that was meant to await them, but rather if only to end the incessant whines of Azure.

Ravan seemed to hardly hear them as, honestly, he had other things on his mind. Or at least Marin imagined he did. The man would randomly make a grunt of approval or disapproval, but that was about all he was willing to offer up. And even then, it was only when Azure straight called him out on something.

The sun was high in the sky and midday had long past when Ravan eventually did make mention of lunch.

"You did," he questioned the pair, "pack yourselves something to eat, didn't you?"

"I ate all of my stuff on my journey to Fiore," Azure defended with a huff as Marin only blushed.

"I've never packed a bag for an adventure before," she whispered softly, but Ravan only rolled his eyes with a sigh as he led them now away from the old dirt road they'd been traveling on and instead into the forest and, eventually, settling on a nice fallen log.

"Adventure," he repeated as, dropping his bag before the log, he took to tugging down his bandanna. "Is that what you think you're on?"

"W-Well-"

"Here." Ravan had bent down, pulling some stuff out of his pack before nodding at where she stood beside him, nervously cuddling Azure in her arms. "Eat."

He held out two clear baggies then, one containing an assortment of fruits and the other some sort of preserved meat. The fruit was bruised and the meant looked unappetizing, but when Marin tried to politely decline, Ravan only insisted.

"You need," he told her simply, "to eat." Then he seemed to sneer, maybe, but it was all said in his same disinterested tone as he added, "If you're going to slay a monster."

"We are!" And Azure jumped from the teen's arms then, snagging the bags from the man as he landed on the ground and immediate dug into them. This action surprised Marin, who took a step back and tossed a hand over her mouth, but Ravan only observed silently for a moment before digging a pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket.

"Don't over do it," was all he offered the Exceed as he produced a lighter too. Then, with a nod at Marin, he seemed to motion her over to the log.

Slowly, she sunk down to sit beside the man, a bit of worry in her expression as, while Azure was losing some of his fury, he was still devouring the majority of Ravan's rations and she had no idea how vital these were. Just as she was going to request the Exceed slow down a bit though, Ravan spoke instead.

"How's Kai?" he asked though he couldn't quite look at her. It was always difficult for him to openly admit how much he cared for his younger brother and, on the opposite end of that in her own relationship, Marin obliged easily.

"He's fine," she assured him. "I mean, he was sad that night, when my sister came back and you didn't, but other than that-"

"There was no reason," Ravan told her simply, "for me to come back."

"Maybe not," she agreed softly. "But that doesn't mean that we didn't want you to."

He blew smoke and watched it then for a long moment before asking, "How's Erza?"

"Busy," was the first thing that fell from Marin's mouth. As she blushed and tried to recover from this with some stammering, he only nodded.

"She's Master," he said simply. "Of course she's busy."

"Yeah, but… She does still think about you. A lot," she insisted with a nod. When Ravan snorted, she insisted, "We all do. Me and Kai too. And...I know that we can't all be together again, any time soon, but-"

"It's not how you remember it, Marin," he assured her rather flippantly and she found she didn't like it, her realizations being spoken back to her as truths. Before bringing his cigarette up for another puff, he insisted, "I like it better here. You like it better there. Kai… Fuck, I don't know, but I hope he's better, where he is. And Erza damn sure likes being in power over everyone else. Of course she does. It gave her an easy out, not having to admit she wasn't going to get back to her full power again. We all fell into exactly what we needed, when we needed it. There's no point in looking back."

She didn't like this assessment, at all, and thought to change the subject and instead informed him then, "My sister wrote home. W-Well, Locke wrote home, for the both of them. Twice now. And-"

"Marin, I don't want to hear about-"

"But-"

"Are she fine?" Then he frowned and felt obligated to ask, "Are they both?"

"I mean...I guess so."

"Then that's enough for me."

He seemed to notice it though, the way her cheeks heated up in a different way when he caught staring at him. She'd been judging his response, maybe, to the mention of her sister, but now she was facing deliberately away from him, fists balled and pale skin flushed while Ravan only raised an eyebrow, but spoke no further on it.

A loud groan from down at their feet reminded them of Azure's presence and, patting at an extended stomach, the feline only fell over as he insisted, "I think I overdid it."

Marin was quick to jump to her feet and lightly scold the Exceed while Ravan merely finished his smoke before ordering the pair that it was time to continue on.

"Where exactly," Azure thought to ask about twenty minutes later when his bellyache subsided enough for him to lean over in Marin's arms and glare at the man before them, "are you planning on dropping us anyways?"

"What do you mean?" the white haired teen questioned.

"He said that he has a stop along the way," the feline insisted. "But where is this stop? And where are you headed anyways, huh?"

Ravan only volleyed over his shoulder, "Don't fucking answer cats."

"He'll take us as close as he can," Marin assured Azure. "Ravan only wants to help."

Somehow, Azure doubted that.

Still, he was rather young and, feeling a bit cornered now, Ravan decided to bring about some questions of his own.

"I didn't spend time around the other...Exceeds," he offered with a glance over his shoulder. "But they usually were able to fly. What gives? Eh? You like making her carry you everywhere?"

"No!" And Azure's wings appeared. "I'm conserving my magical powers!"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Aero magic shouldn't eat up that much of your supply no matter how tiny and young you are," the man retorted. "Not if you're going to have enough magic to take on a fucking monster. What else are you hiding?"

He'd succeeded in riling the young Exceed up and, putting on a bit of speed then, he caught flew before Ravan's face now and summoned the archaic amulet that he'd parade before, in the guildhall. Clutching it tightly with both palms, his flight level took a significant drop as he insisted to Ravan, "It takes a lot, is all. To store this."

"What is it?" The man stopped walking then, rather suddenly, and Marin came to stand at his side, frowning some as she looked it over as well.

"It's the key to summoning the monster," Azure told him simply. "On the mountain. Between this and a Dreyar, I'm going to be able to prove myself and take my proper place in my tribe as-"

"You're draining your magic for equip space?" He sneered, maybe, Ravan did, from behind his bandanna, but was just as likely to be feeling that same pit in his stomach, of sickening remembrance that he'd berated Marin for earlier. "That's dumb."

"R-Ravan," Marin whispered softly while Azure's gaze only darkened.

But the man merely shook his head.

"I meant," he explained simply, "that if you're traveling with someone else who could easily carry it for you, then why wouldn't you do that? Your main magic clearly isn't equip; you're just doing that for this amulet, right? Fine. Give it to someone else to carry for you."

This time, when Marin looked up at him, it was with a different curiosity.

"You?" she asked, but he only snorted and started walking again.

"You," he replied simply.

There was an awkward beat then, where Azure and Marin exchanged glances, but just as quickly it passed and while she looked away, he merely clutched the amulet even tighter.

"I can't let anyone have it." Azure flew after Ravan and Marin was quick to follow. To the man, the Exceed said, "It's too important. It-"

Ravan shrugged as, with a glance back at them, he said, "I trust someone enough to back me up in battle, I trust them to carry something important to that battle."

"W-Well," Marin spoke up then as she hurried after them, "we did just meet."

Ravan seemed to consider this before saying, "Then trade."

"Trade?" It was Azure's turn to snort it seemed as he boasted, "There is nothing anyone has that is nearly as important as this. It's part of my people."

"Yeah?" Ravan nodded to Marin then. "So are those, huh? Around your neck?"

"W-What?" Her hand came up then, Marin's did, to instinctively grip at the two items that hung around it. They were pendants, much smaller and rather insignificant she thought, but meant a lot to her. Haven and Locke had left her with one, a gemstone from their first completed serious job together, while her father had given her the other, a lightning bolt that his mother had worn during her short life. While they weren't meant to awaken any monsters, the thought of parting with them did make her clutch them just as tightly as the Exceed. "These?"

"Yeah." Ravan knew the well enough. Both of them, unfortunately. "They're easier for the cat to carry. He can even wear them around his neck. And you carry the amulet, in your pack or something. Easy trade, isn't it? A fair one? You'd both want the other to return it to you and make sure that they got their item back, huh? Then you save even more power, Azure, and Marin doesn't have to waste her energy carrying you for miles and miles. Seems fair enough to me."

There was an awkwardness then, between the two of them, and Marin and Azure were getting left behind, as they stood and stared at one another, both not quite willing to part with their prized possession.

Still, he hadn't been wrong. It was a bit silly for Azure to waste his magical energy on such a task, if Marin were capable of carrying it for him, and while she didn't think that it was truly draining her to carry the feline around, she definitely would appreciate not having too the entire journey.

"They really do mean a lot to me," she insisted to the Exceed as he seemed most hesitant. As she undid her necklaces though, she insisted to him, "Same as you."

He doubted it, but something about her, the way her blue eyes met his and seemed so full of sincerity, made it difficult for him to deny her.

They'd carry on for a few more hours, but eventually, Ravan seemed to arrive where he intended and decided for them that they'd camp out for the night.

"But we can keep going," Azure insisted as the sun set and the man only took to gathering up sticks for the campfire.

"We can," he agreed. "But we're not."

"But-"

"The two of you fighting a monster seems unlikely to begin with," Ravan replied, "but after traveling all day and at night? Fuck that. Sleep. Rest. Haven't heard any reports of some monster in need of the two of you to slay it, anyways. Can't be that urgent."

"Don't you listen?" Azure was agitated, but that seemed to be a constant for him. "I've laready told you, I have to have the amulet to summon the monster."

Snorting, Ravan remarked, "Don't much like it, I guess, summing monsters for your own amusement."

"It's not like that." Marin, who'd was nearby gathering sticks of her own, almost dropped them. "This is very important to him, Ravan."

"Yeah?" He didn't even look to her as he muttered, "So was the fucking gauntlet."

"Ravan-"

"Need bigger sticks," he dropped his pile in the center of the clearing they were in, by their packs, before adding, "I'll be back."

He grabbed his pack though, before he disappeared into the forest, while Marin and Azure both observed with alternate vantage points. She felt badly, about exposing him to such a sore subject (again, honestly), but the Exceed only floated over her way before, wings disappearing, falling onto her head.

"How well," he questioned as she felt her necklaces, wrapped around his furry neck, press into the top of her head now, as he rested against it, "do you know him again?"

"I told you," she retorted with many some irritation in her tone. "He's Kai's brother. And my master's...son. Or something. We're...close."

"We should just leave," Azure insisted regardless. "We don't need him."

"No," she agreed with a sigh, "but I do need rest."

"Marin-"

"I'm sorry, but I do." Walking over to the small pile Ravan had already begun, she dropped her own sticks before reaching up to pluck the Exceed from her head. As she dropped him gently to the ground as well, she said, "You don't spend a lot of time with humans, do you? Well, we need sleep. And so do you. I know that you're excited, but please, calm down some." Then, with a frown of her own, she asked, "If you're the one summoning it...then why are you so anxious? To get there?"

Azure, who'd been staring up at her so earnestly before, looked away then and Marin caught it, experienced now, maybe, in her years behind the bar, as he lied and said, "Just excited. That's all."

She didn't believe him, not fully, but she nodded all the same, because this was a part of it, wasn't it? Adventures? Haven had always made it seem the way. And all the others that she'd spoken with. There were so many twists and turns and, yes, you trusted your team, with your life, but she'd heard more than enough stories from partners, at different times, to note where their tales differed. Everyone had their own goals and interests.

It would be foolish to believe the Exceed any different.

Plus, they'd have a few more hours of travel in the morning and then, she imagined, a disappointing discovery at the mountain when whatever it is he was hoping didn't come to fruition. Most everyone seemed to believe that it wouldn't. And Marin was till in that camp though, maybe not as firmly as she hoped to convince herself.

Ravan returned eventually and he had some more smoked meat, he revealed, in his bag, which Marin was far too hungry now to deny herself. As night fell, she did find herself rather homesick, as silly as it felt, and was kind of glad that the man was there, if only because he was such a reminder of home.

No matter how distant.

"How do Exceed's fucking age, anyways?" Ravan asked as he smoked and observed where the feline curled right up in Marin's sleeping bag. "Huh?"

"I'm not sure," Marin admitted as she mostly was forcing herself to stay awake then, blinking sleepily frequently, but also a too skittish to either move the Exceed aside or cuddle up beside him. "He seems young though."

Ravan didn't snort then, but did made a noise in the back of his throat as he remarked, "They all get 'em, I guess. The slayers. Now you got yours."

"What? No. I'm not a real-"

"You're a fucking dragon slayer, Marin," he told her simply. "And you have been for awhile now. Now you're out defying your father's rules, fighting monsters, traveling all alone; being a slayer is the least of your worries."

"He doesn't...rule me." She blushed. "I'm not...a kid, Ravan. I'm an adult."

He looked down at her then, seemingly read to rebuke this or maybe even actually snort, but his gaze seemed different as he glanced her over before shrugging and looking off.

"Yeah," he more or less gave up. Gave in. Took a drag of his cigarette and gazed into the fire. "Guess you are."

But she was a shell of one, an imitation, and was unable to claim her sleeping bag. So Ravan, eventually, unfurled his own and insisted she take it.

"I don't sleep much," was all he remarked as he went to rest up against a tree and light up again, sighing some. And he seemed tense. He had the whole time. Not really worried, but also not that same aloof and disinterested persona he usually had.

But Marin was dealing with her own heavy baggage and she thought to herself that she would only sleep for a bit, probably, because it would be time for her to get up for the guildhall, if she were on her regular schedule.

She neglected, however, to realize that she'd more than exhausted her body with her journey and motion sickness for the day. Her sleep was deep and her dreams endless. It was with heavy grogginess that, eventually, she did find herself being drawn for her sleep. Not by her usual biological clock that seemed permanently keyed in to the Fairy Tail guildhall schedule, no, but rather something she wasn't really accustomed to.

Voices.

One of them was Ravan's, which was probably why she wasn't so concerned. Didn't wake with a start. Just let out a rather pathetic and soft moan as she blinked open her eyes to the bright sunlight of early morning and took in her surroundings with the confusion of someone not used to awakening somewhere so new.

It felt jarring and she wasn't quite sure how the others were able to ever become accustomed to it.

"Awakened have you, little Dreyar? Good. Wouldn't wish for me to deliver such a lackluster progress report to your master, would you? Not that I would think of such a thing. I do find Erza can be quite...harsh, at times."

She was confused for a moment, Marin was, as at first, she realized she had a weight on her chest. This was quickly determined to just be Azure who was snuggled there, previously, but now seemed to be awakening as well. As he wiggled about though, one of her hands only came up to hold him to her as she connected, in her mind, that Ravan at some point in the night must have lifted him from her sleeping bag and placed him in his own, where she was snoozing.

It was just as easy to rationalize the person she was blinking up at.

Marin didn't know Jellal well. If at all. He was one of the people that existed on the fringes of the stories that her parents told, perhaps existed more heavily in Erza's, but overall, felt more like an imagined being than an actualized one. For much of her childhood, he wasn't anyone to her, at all, and she wasn't even sure if he constituted as important currently. He was certainly her master's significant other, but he seemed to only come around in the dead of night and leave in the exact same, hardly a mention on the woman's tongue. Kai made him an important person in his own life, which mean that Marin heard about him secondhand, but even those instances were few and far between, meaning she new very little of the man, truly, when she thought of it.

But he'd been there for Erza, she knew, in her weakest moments. Always. And one of those was the day she had to send her previous student, her son, really, away. Marin had been there, at the hand off. When Ravan left them, after Haven's death, and no one was really sure if they'd see him again. Jellal appeared and left with very few words to the swordswoman, but with one of her most valuable assets, and it had never been Marin's job to wonder about how this all went about. Though she found herself aligned with the Scarlet family, she was surely the most tangent member and that meant was in the least know.

Jellal sought Zeref, a scarcely mentioned foe from her parents past that mostly had drifted from the consciousnesses of those who might think to fear him. Still, it was a life long mission of the man's to seek him out and the idea that Ravan had found himself on that same redemption path, at the time of her sister's death, did bring some comfort. She'd never agree with his excommunication, but she could find solace in him continuing on passed it.

But now Ravan continued on with him for reason that Marin didn't quite understand. He could surely return to Fairy Tail, if he wished to, what with Erza being master, but he didn't seem to wish for that. And now with Kai gone off from it as well, it felt as if neither brother would ever bear the emblem again which might bear better for them, but sometimes, well, it could just get lonely, maybe.

Being the last one left.

For as lonely as the man himself should have been, Jellal always looked warm, when he stared into her eyes. And he did so, whenever he spoke to anyone, and her Uncle Elf told her once that that's how he used to trick people, with his sincerity, and to never believe it fully, no matter how changed he was, because no men were that forthright without wanting something. He calmed her though, as he smiled into her blue eyes and Marin tried hard, as she had since she was young, to not openly stare at the strange marking he wore over his eye.

"Marin?" Azure shifted some more and she only held him to her still. "W'as going on?"

"Nothing." Sitting up some, she spoke then to Jellal, "I'm sorry. Did we…distract Ravan from something? Or make him late? He offered to take us to-"

"He signaled me to his location," Jellal soothed her concerns with a slight smile. The man in question stood behind him, having been speaking previously, but turned away now, not quite meeting Marin's eyes. "He has veered somewhat off course, from his main objective, but it is no matter. Assisting Erza's precious student and the former master's even more precious daughter… It's quite lucky that he ran into the two of you."

"W-Well," Marin began as, beginning to fell self-conscious, down there on the ground, she moved to place Azure down before rising to her own feet. "He told us it was on the way, but… He doesn't have to help us anymore. We're almost to Mount Surke and-"

"Mount Surke?" Jellal looked to Ravan, but the man wouldn't return his gaze. To her instead, he asked, "I didn't know you were headed the way. Is there something going on I should know about? Ravan wasn't too clear on your directive."

"It's not a directive, really," Marin whispered softly as she blushed some, always one to undersell her own tasks. "It's a...courtesy, I guess, to some Exceed tribe that we found."

"Still," he offered with a slight nod of his head. "She'd hardly place this task off on anyone that she didn't trust to complete it."

"W-Well-"

"It's more than that, Marin." Ravan wouldn't meet her eyes as he spoke, but did turn her way as he said, "Show it to him. The amulet." When she seemed to hesitate, Ravan only insisted, "Jellal knows about a lotta stuff, you know? He's versed in this kind of stuff."

"I have had my own dealings in the arcane," he remarked. "Ravan mentioned the amulet of yours is rather-"

"Don't!" And Azure flew up then, sprouting his wings rather suddenly as he insisted, "Marin, please, don't-"

"It's okay." And she seemed certain of this as she only had to remove it then, from where it hung from her neck, heavy and stark, but insisted by Azure to dangle there, where he could see it. "Jellal is Erza's boyfriend."

"Yes." The man came forward to take the item, holding it firmly in his palm as he glanced over it. But then, as he looked up at Marin, his eyes seemed filled with something else. Something she knew well and made her take a step back. Pity. With a sigh and a tight grip, he informed both she and the Exceed, "She is my girlfriend, if that's what you choose to call her. Which is why I am sure I will have to beg her forgiveness, for superseding this venture she set forth. We've been tracking this for some time, Marin. And now you've brought it right to us."

"W-What?"

"I'm sorry, Marin." Ravan was hiding behind a bandanna, but his eyes plead his case all the same as they finally were able to meet his. "But I can't fucking let you summon a goddamn monster and you know it. Pick a better first job next time, huh?"

"You can't have that!" Azure tried to ram at Jellal, but the man only sidestepped him.

"But I must," he insisted, but seemed to take no joy out of his mission. "I am unsure how you were able to hide this for so long. Some sort of magic spell? But I could feel it, the second it was brought back into this world's plane; one of Zeref's creations."

Ravan nodded some, at the man's words, as he insisted, "I can't let you summon that monster."

She only stared for a long few moments, Marin did, unsure of what to say. She was hardly hard set on the mission to begin with it and it all felt rather jarring to now find just how close she was to bringing about unimaginable terror. Still, while Jellal and Ravan mostly seemed concerned at breaking this news to her calmly, they'd neglected, or perhaps did not know, of the magic possessed by the smaller of the pair.

Azure had to think fast, their words rather meaningless to him, and this time instead of rushing into Jellal, he instead flew back some before throwing all his power into smashing into Marin, who fell into the man, and in his attempt at keeping her on her feet, slackened his grip on the amulet just enough.

It all happened in a blur.

One moment, they were all there. Marin, Azure, and the treasured object. But Azure had only need mere seconds, as the amulet fell from Jellal's hands, to grasp it, hold onto Marin's arm, and use all the energy he'd saved up over night to zap them into the transportation spell Ajax had first witnessed only two nights before.

For Jellal and Ravan, however, this all happened in an instant and took them a few seconds to recover as they gathered their bearings once more.

"No," the elder of the two hissed as they both looked around, dazed. His tone losing that put on sweetness he'd used to comfort the girl, he questioned Ravan, "Where did they go?"

But he only had a sickening tone of his own as his eyes leveled, not far off in the distance, on the looming form that the sun was just peaking around.

With a soft breath of his own, he said simply, "The Mount."


End file.
